UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

[Mark One]

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from              to             

Commission File Number

01-13697 

MOHAWK INDUSTRIES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) 

Delaware			52-1604305
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)			(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
160 S. Industrial Blvd.	Calhoun	Georgia	30701
(Address of principal executive offices)			(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (706) 629-7721

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, $.01 par value	MHK	New York Stock Exchange
Floating Rate Notes due 2021		New York Stock Exchange
2.000% Senior Notes due 2022		New York Stock Exchange

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ý    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act    Yes  ¨    No  ý

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ý    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ý    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer	ý	Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☐	Smaller reporting company	☐
Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 USC. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.  ý

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ý

The aggregate market value of the Common Stock of the Registrant held by non-affiliates (excludes beneficial owners of more than 10% of the Common Stock) of the Registrant (57,880,506 shares) on June 26, 2020 (the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed fiscal second quarter) was $5,539,743,229. The aggregate market value was computed by reference to the closing price of the Common Stock on such date.

Number of shares of Common Stock outstanding as of February 22, 2021: 70,226,354 shares of Common Stock, $.01 par value. Mohawk Industries, Inc. common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under symbol MHK.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders-Part III.

Table of Contents

		Page No.
Part I
Item 1.	Business	3
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	12
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	20
Item 2.	Properties	21
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	22
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	22
Part II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	23
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	24
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	25
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	36
Item 8.	Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	37
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	82
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	82
Item 9B.	Other Information	82
Part III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	83
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	83
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	83
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	83
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	83
Part IV
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	84

2

PART I

Item 1.Business

Unless this Form 10-K indicates otherwise or the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “our,” “us,” “Mohawk,” or “the Company” as used in this Form 10-K refer to Mohawk Industries, Inc.

General

Mohawk is a leading global flooring manufacturer that creates products to enhance residential and commercial spaces around the world. The Company’s vertically integrated manufacturing and distribution processes provide competitive advantages in carpet, rugs, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone, luxury vinyl tile (“LVT”) and sheet vinyl flooring. The Company’s industry-leading innovation develops products and technologies that differentiate its brands in the marketplace and satisfy all flooring-related remodeling and new construction requirements. The Company’s brands are among the most recognized in the industry and include American Olean®, Daltile®, Durkan®, Eliane®, Feltex®, Godfrey Hirst®, IVC®, Karastan®, Marazzi®, Mohawk®, Pergo®, Quick-Step® and Unilin®. During the past two decades, the Company has transformed its business from an American carpet manufacturer into the world’s largest flooring company with operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. The Company had annual net sales in 2020 of $9.6 billion. Approximately 60% of this amount was generated by sales in the United States and approximately 40% was generated by sales outside the United States. The Company has three reporting segments, Global Ceramic, Flooring North America (“Flooring NA”) and Flooring Rest of the World (“Flooring ROW”) with their 2020 net sales representing 36%, 38% and 26%, respectively, of the Company’s total revenue. Selected financial information for the three segments, geographic net sales and the location of long-lived assets are set forth in Note 18-Segment Reporting.

The Global Ceramic Segment designs, manufactures, sources, distributes and markets a broad line of ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tile products used for floor and wall applications in residential and commercial channels for both remodeling and new construction.  In addition, the Global Ceramic Segment manufactures, sources and distributes other products, including natural stone, quartz and porcelain slab countertops, as well as installation materials. The Global Ceramic Segment markets and distributes its products under various brands, including the following:  American Olean, Daltile, Eliane, EmilGroup®, KAI®, Kerama Marazzi, Marazzi and Ragno®. The Segment sells its products through company-owned and franchised operations, independent distributors, home centers, floor covering retailers, ceramic specialists, commercial contractors and commercial end users. The Global Ceramic Segment operations are vertically integrated from the production of raw material for body and glaze preparation to the manufacturing and distribution of ceramic and porcelain tile and countertops.

The Flooring NA Segment designs, manufactures, sources and distributes a broad range of floor covering products in a variety of colors, textures and patterns for both residential and commercial remodeling and new construction channels. The Segment’s product lines include broadloom carpet, carpet tile, rugs and mats, carpet pad, laminate, medium-density fiberboard (“MDF”), wood flooring, LVT and sheet vinyl. The Flooring NA Segment markets and distributes its flooring products under various brands, including the following: Aladdin Commercial®, Durkan, IVC, Karastan, Mohawk, Mohawk Group®, Mohawk Home®, Pergo, Portico® and Quick-Step. The Segment sells its products through floor covering retailers, distributors, home centers, mass merchants, department stores, e-commerce retailers, shop at home, buying groups, builders, commercial contractors and commercial end users.

The Flooring ROW Segment designs, manufactures, sources and distributes a wide variety of laminate, LVT and sheet vinyl, wood flooring, broadloom carpet and carpet tile collections used in the residential and commercial markets for both remodeling and new construction. In addition, the Flooring ROW Segment manufactures roofing panels, insulation boards, mezzanine flooring, MDF and chipboards primarily for the European market. The Segment also licenses certain patents related to flooring manufacturing throughout the world. The Segment markets and distributes its products under various brands, including the following: Balterio®, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, Hycraft®, IVC, Leoline®, Moduleo®, Pergo, Quick-Step, Unilin and Xtratherm®. The Segment sells its products through floor covering retailers, wholesalers, company-operated distributors independent distributors and home centers.

3

Business Strategy

Mohawk’s business strategy provides a consistent vision for the organization and focuses employees around the globe on key priorities. The strategy is cascaded down through the organization with an emphasis on five key points:

•Optimizing the Company’s position as the industry’s preferred provider by delivering exceptional value to customers;

•Treating employees fairly to retain the best organization;

•Driving innovation in all aspects of the business;

•Taking reasonable, well considered risks to grow the business; and

•Enhancing the communities in which the Company operates.

The Mohawk business strategy provides continuity for the Company’s operating principles and ensures a focus on exceeding customer expectations.

Strengths

Market Position

Mohawk’s fashionable and innovative products, successful participation in all sales channels, creative marketing programs and extensive sales resources have enabled the Company to build market leadership positions in multiple geographies, primarily North America, Brazil, Europe, Russia and Australasia, as well as to export products to more than 170 countries. In North America, Mohawk’s largest marketplace, the Company has leveraged its brands, broad offering and award-winning merchandising to build strong positions across all product categories. In Europe and Russia, similar advantages have supported market leadership in ceramic tile, premium laminate and sheet vinyl. The Company also has established a strong position in the fast-growing LVT market in the U.S. and Europe following the 2015 acquisition of IVC and subsequent investments to expand production. The 2018 acquisition of Godfrey Hirst provided the Company with the largest market position in carpet in Australasia to complement the leading hard surface presence that the Company had grown through its earlier acquisitions of national distributors in both Australia and New Zealand. In 2018, the Company acquired Eliane, a leading ceramic tile manufacturer in Brazil, the world’s third largest ceramic market. The Eliane brand is highly regarded for innovative design and strength in high-end porcelain floor and wall tile. The Company believes Eliane is Brazil’s largest ceramic tile exporter.

4

Product Innovation

Mohawk drives performance through innovation and process improvements across all product categories. In ceramic, this includes proprietary Reveal Imaging® printing that replicates the appearance of other surfaces, such as long planks with the visuals and texture of natural wood as well as tiles that mimic natural stone, cement, textiles and other alternatives. The Company has patented an innovative new Clic-Fit™ installation technology for its Revo-Tile™ collection that significantly reduces the time and cost to install ceramic tile flooring. Given the frequent use of ceramic tile in kitchens and baths, the Company has also introduced numerous collections featuring antimicrobial treatment that becomes a permanent part of the product. In Italy and Russia, the Company manufactures large-scale porcelain slabs that replicate the look of stone but are harder and more durable. The slabs are being sold in the European and North American markets and are used for floors, walls and countertops. In the U.S., the Company manufactures quartz countertops that along with its stone and porcelain slabs, provide customers with a comprehensive array of surface options. In carpet, the Company introduced the unique Air.o™ unified soft surface collection that integrates a polyester pad into tufted carpet, offering consumers a hypoallergenic and moisture-resistant alternative to traditional carpet. The Company has also launched an innovative carpet backing called Recover™ that is hypoallergenic, latex and VOC free and is easier to install and seam. The Company’s exclusive fiber technologies include the proprietary bio-based SmartStrand® and its brand extensions that represented the first super-soft stain-resistant products on the market as well as the patented Continuum™ process that adds bulk and softness to polyester fiber, differentiating the Company’s products in this fast-growing component of the carpet market. These fiber advantages have been extended into the Company’s rug production, as well, adding luxurious feel and performance enhancements to the Company’s design leadership. In laminate, the Company’s patented Uniclic® installation technology revolutionized the category and has been extended into the LVT and wood categories, as well. The Company continues to deliver new innovations such as unique HydroSeal™ water-resistance that has extended the laminate category into kitchens and baths, more realistic visuals with GenuEdge® pressed bevel edges and surface embossing in register that precisely recreates the appearance of wood. As consumer preference for water-proof flooring has increased, the Company has introduced a propriety technology called WetProtect™ that makes the joints of installed laminate and LVT water tight and prevents liquid spills from reaching the subfloor. This technology has been uniquely applied to wood flooring with UltraWood™, which also features an advanced waterproof finish in addition to improved scratch, wear and dent resistance. The Company’s vinyl offerings reflect significant investments in leading-edge technology that yield incredibly realistic reproductions of stone, wood and other materials with embossed finishes that create more realistic visuals. To complement the beauty of its LVT collections, the Company has also enhanced the performance of its premium rigid products with a solid stone-plastic composite core and an enhanced lacquer finish to provide a dent proof, scratch resistant surface that can withstand today’s active family homes.

Operational Excellence

Mohawk’s highly efficient manufacturing and distribution assets serve as the foundation for successful growth. By leveraging continuous process improvement and automation, the Company’s operations drive innovation, quality and value. Through its commitment to sustainability practices, the Company has also optimized natural resources and raw materials. The Company has invested to expand capacity, introduce differentiated new products and improve efficiencies. In particular, the Company’s capital investments have improved recently acquired businesses by upgrading their product offerings, expanding their distribution and improving their productivity. For fifteen years, Mohawk’s training and development programs have been ranked among the best by Training magazine, and Forbes has designated Mohawk as one of the Best Large U.S. Employers.

Sustainability

The Company believes that it is the industry leader in sustainable products and processes. The Company’s extensive use of recycled content in its products includes the use of more than 7 billion plastic bottles (2019) to create polyester carpet fiber and more than 42 million pounds of tires to produce decorative crumb rubber mats. In all, the Company diverts more than 6.5 billion pounds of waste from landfills each year, with 50 of the Company’s manufacturing sites internally certified as Zero Process Waste to Landfill facilities. The Company’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond its products to resource utilization, including a 513-million-gallon reduction in water use since 2015, lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased energy efficiency. The Company also produces energy through solar panels, windmills and a waste-to-energy program using scrap material. The Company’s commitment to safety and wellness helps to retain a talented workforce. The Company currently operates 19 on-site, near-site or virtual Healthy Life Centers to assist employees with management of chronic conditions as well as the treatment of acute illness. The Company’s annual sustainability report details these and other initiatives and may be accessed at http://www.mohawksustainability.com.

5

Sales and Distribution

Global Ceramic Segment

The Global Ceramic Segment designs, markets, manufactures, distributes and sources a broad line of ceramic tile, porcelain tile and natural stone products, including natural stone, quartz and porcelain slab countertops. Products are distributed through various channels, including independent distributors, home centers, Company-operated service centers and stores, ceramic tile specialists, commercial contractors and directly to commercial end users. The business is organized with dedicated sales forces to address the specific customer needs of each distribution channel.

The Company provides customers with one of the ceramic tile industry’s broadest product lines—a complete selection of glazed floor tile, glazed wall tile, mosaic tile, porcelain tile, quarry tile, porcelain landscaping pavers, porcelain roofing, stone products, porcelain slab countertops, quartz countertops and installation products. In addition to products manufactured by the Company’s ceramic tile business, the Company also sources products from other manufacturers to enhance its product offering.

The Global Ceramic Segment markets its products under the American Olean, Daltile, Eliane, EmilGroup, KAI, Kerama Marazzi, Marazzi and Ragno brand names. These brands are supported by a fully integrated marketing program, displays, merchandising boards, literature, catalogs and websites. Innovative design, quality and response to changes in customer preference enhance recognition in the marketplace. The Company is focused on sales growth opportunities through innovative products and programs in both the residential and commercial channels for both remodeling and new construction.

The Global Ceramic Segment utilizes various distribution methods including regional distribution centers, service centers, direct shipping and customer pick-up from manufacturing facilities. The Segment’s sales forces are organized by product type and sales channels in order to best serve each type of customer. The Company believes its distribution methods for the Global Ceramic Segment provide high-quality customer service and enhance its ability to plan and manage inventory requirements.

Flooring NA Segment

Through its Flooring NA Segment, the Company designs, markets, manufactures, distributes and sources broadloom carpet, carpet tile, carpet pad, rugs, laminate, LVT, sheet vinyl and wood flooring in a broad range of colors, textures and patterns. The Flooring NA Segment positions product lines in all price ranges and emphasizes quality, style, performance and service. The Flooring NA Segment markets and distributes its product lines to independent distributors, floor covering retailers, home centers, mass merchandisers, department stores, e-commerce retailers, shop at home, buying groups, commercial contractors and commercial end users. Some products are also marketed through private labeling programs. Sales to customers focused on residential products represent a significant portion of the total industry and the majority of the Segment’s sales.

The Company has positioned its brand names across all price ranges. IVC, Karastan, Mohawk, Mohawk Home, Pergo, Portico and Quick-Step are positioned to sell in the residential flooring markets. Aladdin Commercial and Mohawk Group are positioned to sell in the commercial market, which is made up of corporate office space, educational facilities, institutional facilities, healthcare/assisted living facilities and retail space. The Company also sells into the commercial hospitality space (hotels, restaurants, gaming facilities, etc.) under its Durkan brand.

The Segment’s sales forces are generally organized by sales channels to best serve each type of customer. Product delivery to independent dealers is facilitated predominantly on Mohawk trucks operating from a strategically positioned national network of warehouses and cross-docks that receive inbound product directly from the Company’s manufacturing operations.

Flooring ROW Segment

The Flooring ROW Segment designs, manufactures, markets, licenses, distributes and sources laminate, LVT, sheet vinyl, wood flooring, broadloom carpet and carpet tile. It also designs and manufactures roofing panels, insulation boards, MDF and chipboards. Products are sold through separate distribution channels, consisting of retailers, independent distributors, company-operated distributors, wholesalers, home centers, commercial contractors and commercial end users. The business is organized to address the specific customer needs of each distribution channel.

6

The Flooring ROW Segment markets and sells laminate, LVT sheet vinyl, broadloom carpet, carpet tile and wood under the Balterio, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, Hycraft, IVC, Leoline, Moduleo, Pergo and Quick-Step brands. The Flooring ROW Segment also sells private label laminate, wood and vinyl flooring products. The Company believes Quick-Step and Pergo are leading brand names in the European flooring industry, and that Godfrey Hirst and Feltex are leading brand names in the Australasian flooring market. In addition, the Flooring ROW Segment markets and sells insulation boards, roof panels, MDF and chipboards in Europe under the Unilin and Xtratherm brands. The Segment also licenses its intellectual property to flooring manufacturers throughout the world.

The Company uses regional distribution centers and direct shipping from manufacturing facilities to provide high-quality customer service and enhance the Company’s ability to plan and manage inventory requirements.

Advertising and Promotion

The Company’s brands are among the best known and most widely distributed in the industry. The Company vigorously supports the value and name recognition of its brands through traditional advertising channels, including numerous trade publications and unique promotional events that highlight product design and performance, as well as social media initiatives and Internet-based advertising. The Company has invested significantly in websites that educate consumers about the Company’s products, helping them to make informed decisions about purchases, and that identify local retailers that offer the Company’s collections. The Company offers its customers the award-winning Omnify™, an Internet platform that automatically syncs updated product and sales information between the Company and its U.S. aligned retailer websites, ensuring that consumers have access to the most accurate and timely information.

In North America, the Company actively supports well known programs as Susan G. Komen® (breast cancer research), Habitat for Humanity® (housing for low income families), HomeAid® (housing for homeless families) and Operation Finally Home® (housing for disabled veterans), which include marketing partnerships that showcase the Company’s products and highlight its corporate values. The Company also sponsors a European cycling team to promote its Quick-Step brand through logo placements and use of the team in its advertising and point-of-sale displays.

The Company introduces new products, merchandising and marketing campaigns through participation in regional, national and international trade shows as well as at exclusive dealer conventions. The Company supports sales with its retail customers through cooperative advertising programs that extend the reach of the Company’s promotion as well as with innovative merchandising displays that highlight the Company’s differentiated products and provide samples to consumers. The cost of providing merchandising displays, product samples and point of sale promotional marketing, is partially recovered by the purchase of these items by the Company’s customers.

Manufacturing and Operations

Global Ceramic Segment

The Company’s ceramic tile manufacturing operations are vertically integrated from the production of raw material for body and glaze preparation to the manufacturing and distribution of ceramic and porcelain tile and quartz countertops. The Company believes that its manufacturing organization’s leading-edge technology offers competitive advantages due to its ability to create a differentiated product line consisting of one of the industry’s broadest offerings of colors, textures and finishes, as well as the industry’s largest offering of trim and decorative pieces. In addition, the Global Ceramic Segment also sources a portion of its collections to enhance its product offerings. The Global Ceramic Segment continues to invest in equipment that utilizes the latest technologies, which supports the Company's efforts to increase manufacturing capacity, improve efficiency, meet the growing demand for its innovative products and develop new capabilities.

Flooring NA Segment

The Company’s carpet and rug manufacturing operations are vertically integrated and include the extrusion of triexta, nylon, polyester and polypropylene resins, as well as recycled post-consumer plastics, into fiber. The Flooring NA Segment is also vertically integrated in yarn processing, carpet backing manufacturing, tufting, weaving, dyeing, coating and finishing.

The Segment is also vertically integrated with significant manufacturing assets that produce laminate flooring, high density fiber board, wood flooring, fiberglass sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl tile. The Flooring NA Segment continues to invest in capital projects, such as the expansion of the Company’s North American LVT and premium laminate manufacturing capacity. Other investments in state-of-the-art equipment support market growth, increase manufacturing efficiency and improve overall cost competitiveness.

7

Flooring ROW Segment

The Company’s laminate and vinyl flooring manufacturing operations in Europe are vertically integrated. The Company believes its Flooring ROW Segment has advanced equipment that results in competitive manufacturing in terms of cost and flexibility. In addition, the Flooring ROW Segment has significant manufacturing capability for wood flooring, LVT and sheet vinyl. The 2018 acquisition of Godfrey Hirst established vertically integrated broadloom carpet and carpet tile operations in Australia and New Zealand, including the production of wool yarn. The Flooring ROW Segment is also vertically integrated in carpet manufacturing, including tufting, weaving, dyeing, coating and finishing.

The Flooring ROW Segment continues to invest in capital expenditures, such as LVT and laminate expansions, as well as new carpet tile and sheet vinyl plants in Europe and Russia, respectively, utilizing the latest advances in technologies to increase manufacturing capacity, improve efficiency and develop new capabilities including state-of-the-art, fully integrated production that will leverage the Company’s proven record of bringing innovative and high-quality products to its markets. The manufacturing facilities for roofing panels, insulation boards, MDF and chipboards in the Flooring ROW Segment are all configured for cost-efficient manufacturing and production flexibility and are competitive in the European market.

Inputs and Suppliers

Global Ceramic Segment

The principal raw materials used in the production of ceramic tile are clay, talc, feldspar, industrial minerals and glazes. The Company has long-term clay mining rights in North America, Russia, Bulgaria and Brazil that satisfy a portion of its clay requirements for producing tile. The Company also purchases a number of different grades of clay for the manufacture of its tile. Glazes are used on a significant percentage of manufactured tiles. Glazes consist of frit (ground glass), zircon, stains and other materials, with frit being the largest component. The Company manufactures a significant amount of its frit requirements. The Company believes that there is an adequate supply of all grades of clay, talc and industrial minerals that are readily available from a number of independent sources. If these suppliers were unable to satisfy the Company’s requirements, the Company believes that alternative supply arrangements would be available.

Flooring NA Segment

The principal raw materials used in the production of carpet and rugs are polypropelene, polyester, triexta, nylon, caprolactam, recycled post-consumer plastics, synthetic backing materials, latex and various dyes and chemicals, the majority of which are petroleum based. The Company uses wood chips, wood veneers, lumber, paper and resins in its production of laminate and wood products. In its vinyl flooring operations, the Company uses glass fiber, plasticizers and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins. Major raw materials used in the Company’s manufacturing process are available from independent sources, and the Company obtains most of its raw materials from major suppliers that provide inputs to each major product category. If these suppliers were unable to satisfy the requirements, the Company believes that alternative supply arrangements would be available. Although the market for raw materials is sensitive to temporary disruptions, the North American flooring industry has not experienced a significant shortage of raw materials in recent years.

Flooring ROW Segment

The principal raw materials used in the production of boards, laminate and wood flooring are wood, paper and resins. The wood suppliers provide a variety of wood species, providing the Company with a cost-effective and secure supply of raw material. In its vinyl flooring operations, the Company uses glass fiber, plasticizers and PVC resins. Major raw materials used in the Company’s manufacturing process are available from independent sources, and the Company has long-standing relationships with a number of suppliers. The principal raw materials used in the production of broadloom carpet and carpet tile are polypropelene, polyester, triexta, nylon, caprolactam, recycled post-consumer plastics, synthetic backing materials, latex and various dyes and chemicals, the majority of which are petroleum based. Although the market for raw materials is sensitive to temporary disruptions, the flooring industry has not experienced a significant shortage of raw materials in recent years. If these suppliers were unable to satisfy the requirements, the Company believes that alternative supply arrangements would be available.

8

Industry and Competition

The Company is the largest flooring manufacturer in a fragmented industry composed of a wide variety of companies ranging from small, privately-held firms to large multinationals. In 2019, the U.S. floor covering industry reported $27.6 billion in sales, up approximately 1.1% over 2018’s sales of $27.3 billion. In 2019, the primary categories of flooring in the U.S., based on sales, were carpet and rugs (41.0%), resilient (includes sheet vinyl and LVT) and rubber (23.2%), ceramic tile (14.1%), wood (13.0%), stone (5.5%) and laminate (3.2%). In 2019, the primary categories of flooring in the U.S., based on square feet, were carpet and rugs (46.4%), resilient (includes sheet vinyl and LVT) and rubber (27.3%), ceramic tile (14.2%), wood (6.7%), laminate (4.0%) and stone (1.4%).  Each of these categories is influenced by the residential and commercial construction and residential and commercial remodeling end-use markets. These markets are influenced by many factors including changing consumer preferences, consumer confidence, spending for durable goods, interest rates, inflation, availability of credit, turnover in housing and the overall strength of the economy.

The principal methods of competition within the floor covering industry generally are product innovation, style, quality, price, performance technology and service. In each of the markets, price and market coverage are particularly important when competing among product lines. The Company actively seeks to differentiate its products in the marketplace by introducing innovative products with premium features that provide a superior value proposition. The Company’s investments in manufacturing technology, computer systems and distribution network, as well as the Company’s marketing strategies and resources, contribute to its ability to compete on the basis of performance, quality, style and service, rather than price.

Global Ceramic Segment

Globally, the ceramic tile industry is significantly fragmented. Certain regions around the world have established sufficient capacity to allow them to meet domestic needs in addition to exporting product to other markets where their design and/or technical advantages may drive consumer preferences. Some mature markets have seen industry consolidation driven by mergers and acquisitions; however, most markets are comprised of many relatively small manufacturers all working with similar technologies, raw materials and designs. During 2019, the estimated global capacity for ceramic tile was 136 billion square feet - down slightly from the prior year primarily due to reduced production in China - with selling prices varying widely based on many factors, including supply within the market, materials used, size, shape and design. While the Company operates ceramic manufacturing facilities in eight countries, the Company has leveraged advantages in technology, design, brand recognition and marketing to extend exports of its products to approximately 150 countries. As a result of this global sales strategy, the Company faces competition in the ceramic tile market from a large number of foreign and domestic manufacturers, all of which compete for sales of ceramic tile to customers through multiple residential and commercial channels. The Company believes it is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of ceramic tile in the world. The Company also believes it is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of ceramic tile in specific markets, including the U.S., Europe and Russia, as well as maintaining leading positions in the Mexican and Brazilian markets. The Company has leveraged the advantages of its scale, product innovation and unique designs in these markets to solidify its leadership position, however the Company continues to face pressures in these markets from imported ceramic products as well as alternate flooring categories.

Flooring NA Segment

The North American flooring industry is highly competitive, with an increasing variety of product categories, shifting consumer preferences and pressures from imported products, particularly in the rug and hard surface categories. Based on industry publications, in 2019, the U.S. flooring industry had carpet and rug sales in excess of $11.3 billion out of the overall $27.6 billion market. Based on its 2019 net sales, the Company believes it is the largest producer of rugs and the second largest producer of carpet in the world. The Company differentiates its carpet and rug products in the market place through proprietary fiber systems, state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and unique styling as well as leveraging the strength of some of the oldest and best-known brands in the industry. The Company also believes it is the largest manufacturer and distributor of laminate flooring in the U.S. as well as one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of wood flooring.  The Company’s leading position in laminate flooring is driven by the strength of its premium brands as well as technical innovations such as water resistance, realistic visuals, beveled edges, deeply embossed in register surfaces and patented installation technologies. The U.S. resilient industry is highly competitive, and according to industry publications, grew more than 18% in 2019. Based on industry publications, in 2019 LVT and sheet vinyl generated sales of $6.1 billion out of the $27.6 billion total U.S. flooring market. The Company believes that it is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of LVT and sheet vinyl in the U.S. The Company’s sheet vinyl operations produce fiberglass backed products, which have proven more popular with consumers in the past several years due to superior performance and durability.

9

Flooring ROW Segment

The Company faces competition in the non-U.S. laminate, wood, LVT and sheet vinyl flooring business from a large number of domestic manufacturers as well as pressures from imports. The Company believes it is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of laminate flooring in the world, with a focus on premium products, which the Company supplies under some of the best-known and most widely marketed brands in its regions. In addition, the Company believes it has a competitive advantage in its laminate flooring markets as a result of the Company’s industry-leading water resistance, realistic visuals and embossed-in-register surfaces as well as patented installation technologies, all of which allow the Company to differentiate its products in the areas of design, performance, installation and assembly. In wood flooring, the Company has extended the strength of its well-known laminate brands and its installation technologies to add value to its wood collections. The Company faces competition in the non-U.S. vinyl flooring channel from a large number of domestic and foreign manufacturers, but believes it has a competitive advantage in its LVT and sheet vinyl markets due to industry-leading design, patented technologies, brand recognition and vertical integration. The Company has elevated the performance of its sheet vinyl collections and is now aggressively placing the product in commercial applications. After initially extending its geographic footprint by acquiring national hard surface distributors in Australia and New Zealand, the Company acquired Godfrey Hirst in 2018, making the Company the largest manufacturer of carpet in both countries. The Company has integrated its soft and hard surface businesses to provide a comprehensive offering to residential and commercial customers in the region. In Australia and New Zealand, the Company faces competition from a large number of domestic and foreign manufacturers, but believes it has a competitive advantage in its carpet and hard surface offering due to industry-leading design, patented technologies, brand recognition and vertical integration of manufacturing and distribution. Through the 2015 acquisition of Xtratherm, the Company has extended its insulation panel business to the United Kingdom and Ireland while expanding sales in its core Benelux Region. The Company also expanded its European mezzanine flooring offering by acquiring German-based Berghoef in 2018.

Patents and Trademarks

Intellectual property is important to the Company’s business and the Company relies on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws to protect its interests.

The Company uses several trademarks that it considers important in the marketing of its products, including American Olean, Daltile, Durkan, EmilGroup, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, IVC, Karastan, Leoline, Marazzi, Moduleo, Mohawk, Mohawk Group, Mohawk Home, Pergo, Quick-Step and Unilin. These trademarks reflect innovations in design, performance and installation, which represent competitive advantages and provide differentiation from competing brands in the market.

The Flooring ROW Segment owns a number of patent families in Europe and the U.S., some of which the Company licenses to manufacturers throughout the world. The Company continues to explore additional opportunities to generate revenue from its patent portfolio.

Major Customers

During 2020, no single customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s total net sales, and the top 10 customers accounted for less than 20% of the Company’s total net sales. The Company believes the loss of one major customer would not have a material adverse effect on its business.

Human Capital

The Company’s management team recognizes the importance of its employees to the Company’s overall long-term success. The Company continues to focus on the recruitment, development, safety, engagement, and retention of its employees. The health and safety of the Company’s employees during the COVID-19 pandemic have been particularly important. The safety procedures the Company has put in place to prevent workplace transfer of the virus include strict policies on quarantining, audits and enforcement of social distancing, temperature scans, masks and sanitization standards.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company employed approximately 42,000 persons, consisting of approximately 19,600 in North America, approximately 14,600 in Europe and Russia and approximately 7,800 in other countries. The majority of the Company’s European and Russian manufacturing employees are members of unions. Less than 1% of the Company’s U.S. employees are party to a collective bargaining agreement. Additionally, the Company has not experienced any major strikes or work stoppages in recent years. The Company believes that its relations with its employees are good.

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Available Information

The Company’s Internet address is https://www.mohawkind.com. The Company makes available the following reports it files on its website, free of charge, under the heading “Investors”:

•annual reports on Form 10-K;

•quarterly reports on Form 10-Q;

•current reports on Form 8-K; and

•amendments to the foregoing reports.

The foregoing reports are made available on the Company’s website as soon as practicable after they are filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

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Item 1A.Risk Factors

In addition to the other information provided in this Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be considered when evaluating an investment in shares of the Company’s Common Stock. If any of the events described in these risks were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.

Industry and Economic Risks

The floor covering industry is sensitive to changes in general economic conditions, such as consumer confidence, income and spending, corporate and government spending, interest rate levels, availability of credit and demand for housing. Significant or prolonged declines in the U.S. or global economies could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

Downturns in the U.S. and global economies, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively impact the floor covering industry and the Company’s business. During times of economic uncertainty or decline, end consumers tend to spend less on remodeling their homes, which is how the Company derives a majority of its sales. Likewise, new home construction - and the corresponding need for new flooring materials - tends to slow down during recessionary periods. There may be downturns in the foreseeable future that could cause the industry to deteriorate globally or in the local markets in which the Company operates. A significant or prolonged decline in residential or commercial remodeling or new construction activity could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business and results of operations.

The Company faces intense competition in the flooring industry that could decrease demand for the Company’s products or force it to lower prices, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The floor covering industry is highly competitive. The Company faces competition from a number of manufacturers and independent distributors. Some of the Company’s competition is from companies located outside of the United States, and these competitors may benefit from lower input costs or state subsidies. Also, trade tariffs may impact both the Company and its competitors in different and unpredictable ways. Maintaining the Company’s competitive position may require substantial investments in the Company’s product development efforts, manufacturing facilities, distribution network and sales and marketing activities. Competitive pressures may also result in decreased demand for the Company’s products, force the Company to lower prices or prevent the Company from raising prices to keep up with inflation. Moreover, fluctuations in currency exchange rates and input costs may contribute to more attractive pricing for imports that compete with the Company’s products, which may put pressure on the Company’s pricing.  Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The COVID-19 pandemic has materially impacted our business, and will likely continue to impact our business in the future.

Mohawk generates sales in more than 170 countries and maintains manufacturing operations in 18 countries. Due to its large global footprint, Mohawk’s business is sensitive to macroeconomic events in the United States and abroad. While the near-term economic and financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to evolve and difficult to measure, based on current visibility, the Company expects that it will continue to see fluctuating demand across a number of its markets. In particular, pent up demand for travel and entertainment may reduce consumer willingness to make investments in the Company’s products as health conditions improve. Also, the Company has experienced and may continue to experience plant closures or slowdowns in productivity resulting from lower demand, health-based concerns, and government mandated closures.

During economic downturns, including the current downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for the Company’s products may significantly decrease. This reduced demand may lead to lower sales and intensified competitive pressures.

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The Company experienced certain disruptions to its business and further disruptions may occur that could materially affect the Company’s ability to obtain supplies, manufacture its products or deliver inventory in a timely manner. Future disruptions may result in lost revenue, additional costs or impairments to goodwill or other assets. Although we believe that we can manage our exposure to these risks, there is no guarantee that we will be able to do so in the future. The Company continues to follow the recommendations of local health authorities to minimize exposure risk for its employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders. The Company has implemented business continuity plans during the crisis and is attempting to minimize the pandemic’s impact, but it may be unable to adequately respond to further outbreaks in particular geographies and its operations may be materially impacted. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact the Company’s results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the successful implementation of vaccination programs and the continued fiscal support currently provided by governments in the Company’s markets. Accordingly, the COVID-19 pandemic and the related global reaction could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.

To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, financial conditions and results of operations it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factor” section.

International Risks

The Company manufactures, sources and sells many products internationally and is exposed to risks associated with doing business globally.

The Company’s international activities are significant to its manufacturing capacity, revenues and profits; and the Company continues to expand internationally through the construction of new manufacturing operations and investments in existing ones. Currently, the Company’s Flooring ROW segment has significant operations in Europe, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Company’s Global Ceramic segment has significant operations in Brazil, Europe, Russia and Mexico. In addition, the Company sources raw materials and finished goods from multiple international locations.

The Company’s international sales, supply chain, operations and investments are subject to risks and uncertainties, including:

•changes in foreign country regulatory requirements;

•differing business practices associated with foreign operations;

•various import/export restrictions and the availability of required import/export licenses;

•imposition of foreign or domestic tariffs and other trade barriers;

•foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;

•differing inflationary or deflationary market pressures;

•foreign country tax rules, regulations and other requirements, such as changes in tax rates and statutory and judicial interpretations in tax laws;

•differing labor laws and changes in those laws;

•work stoppages and disruptions in the shipping of imported and exported products;

•government price controls;

•extended payment terms and the inability to collect accounts receivable;

•potential difficulties repatriating cash from non-U.S. subsidiaries; and

•compliance with laws governing international relations, including those U.S. laws that relate to sanctions and corruption.

The Company cannot assure investors that it will succeed in developing and implementing policies and strategies to address the foregoing risks effectively in each location where the Company does business, and, therefore that the foregoing factors will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

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The Company operates in emerging markets, including Brazil, eastern Europe, Malaysia, Mexico and Russia, and therefore has exposure to doing business in potentially unstable areas of the world.

Operations in emerging markets are subject to greater risk than more developed markets, including in some cases significant legal, economic and political risks. Market conditions and the political structures that support them are subject to rapid change in these economies, and the Company may not be able to react quickly enough to protect its assets and business operations. In particular, developing markets in which the Company operates may be characterized by one or more of the following:

•complex and conflicting laws and regulations, which may be inconsistently or arbitrarily enforced;

•high incidences of corruption in state regulatory agencies;

•volatile inflation;

•widespread poverty and resulting political instability;

•compliance with laws governing international relations, including U.S. laws that relate to sanctions and corruption;

•immature legal and banking systems;

•uncertainty with respect to title to real and personal property;

•underdeveloped infrastructure;

•heavy state control of natural resources and energy supplies;

•state ownership of transportation and supply chain assets;

•high protective tariffs and inefficient customs processes; and

•high crime rates.

Changes in any one or a combination of these factors could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may impact the Company’s financial condition and results of operations and may affect the comparability of results between the Company’s financial periods.

The results of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars from the local currency for consolidated reporting. The exchange rates between some of these currencies and the U.S. dollar in recent years have fluctuated significantly and may continue to do so in the future. The Company may not be able to manage effectively its currency translation risks, and volatility in currency exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and affect comparability of the Company’s results between financial periods.

Business and Operational Risks

The Company may be unable to predict customer preferences or demand accurately, or to respond to technological developments.

The Company operates in a market sector where demand is strongly influenced by rapidly changing customer preferences as to product design, product category and technical features. Failure to quickly and effectively respond to changing customer demand or technological developments could have a material adverse effect on the business.

In periods of rising costs, the Company may be unable to pass raw materials, labor, energy and fuel-related cost increases on to its customers, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The prices of raw materials, labor, energy and fuel-related costs vary significantly with market conditions. Although the Company generally attempts to pass on increases in raw material, labor, energy and fuel-related costs to its customers, the Company’s ability to do so is dependent upon the rate and magnitude of any increase, competitive pressures and market conditions for the Company’s products. There have been in the past, and may be in the future, periods of time during which increases in these costs cannot be recovered. During such periods of time, the Company’s business may be materially adversely affected.

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The Company may be unable to obtain raw materials or sourced product on a timely basis, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The principal raw materials used in the Company’s manufacturing operations include triexta, nylon, polypropylene, and polyester resins and fibers, which are used in the Company’s carpet and rug business; clay, talc, feldspar and glazes, including frit (ground glass), zircon and stains, which are used in the Company’s ceramic tile business; wood, paper and resins, which are used in the Company’s wood and laminate flooring business; and glass fiber, plasticizers, and pvc resins, which are used in the Company’s sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl tile business. In addition to raw materials, the Company sources finished goods. For certain raw materials and sourced products, the Company is dependent on one or a small number of suppliers. An adverse change in the Company’s relationship with such a supplier, the financial condition of such a supplier or such supplier’s ability to manufacture or deliver such raw materials or sourced products to the Company could lead to an interruption of supply or require the Company to purchase more expensive alternatives. Also, the Company’s ability to obtain raw materials or source products at reasonable costs may be impacted by tariffs, global trade uncertainties and international crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Company continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions enacted to address the pandemic, the near-term impact on its supply chain is unpredictable. An extended interruption in the supply of sourced products or raw materials used in the Company’s business or in the supply of suitable substitute materials or products would disrupt the Company’s operations, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The Company makes significant capital investments in its business and such capital investments may not be successful or achieve their intended results.

The Company’s business requires significant capital investment to expand capacity to support its growth, introduce new products, enter new markets and improve operating efficiencies.  The Company has historically made significant capital investments each year and will continue to make capital investments in future periods, including approximately $570-$590 million of capital investments in 2021. While the Company believes that many of its past capital investments have been successful, there is no guarantee that the return on investment from the Company’s recent or future capital projects will be sufficient to recover the expenses and opportunity costs associated with these projects.  Furthermore, a meaningful portion of the Company’s capital investment is based on forecasted growth in its business, which is subject to uncertainty such as general economic trends, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased competition and consumer preferences.  If the Company does not accurately forecast its future capital investment needs, the Company could have excess capacity or insufficient capacity, either of which would negatively affect its revenues and profitability.

The Company may experience certain risks associated with acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investments.

The Company intends to grow its business through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. Growth through acquisitions involves risks, many of which may continue to affect the Company after the acquisition. The Company cannot give assurance that an acquired company will achieve the levels of revenue, profitability and production that the Company expects. Acquisitions may require the issuance of additional securities or the incurrence of additional indebtedness, which may dilute the ownership interests of existing security holders or impose higher interest costs on the Company. Additional challenges related to the Company’s acquisition strategy include:

•maintaining executive offices in different locations;

•manufacturing and selling different types of products through different distribution channels;

•conducting business from various locations;

•maintaining different operating systems and software on different computer hardware; and

•retaining key employees.

Failure to successfully manage and integrate an acquisition with the Company’s existing operations could lead to the potential loss of customers of the acquired business, the potential loss of employees who may be vital to the new operations, the potential loss of business opportunities or other adverse consequences that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business. Even if integration occurs successfully, failure of the acquisition to achieve levels of anticipated sales growth, profitability, or otherwise perform as expected, may result in goodwill or other asset impairments or otherwise have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business. Finally, acquisition targets may be subject to material liabilities that are not properly identified in due diligence and that are not covered by seller indemnification obligation or third-party insurance. The unknown liabilities of the Company’s acquisition targets may have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

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In addition, the Company has made certain investments, including through joint ventures, in which the Company has a minority equity interest and lacks management and operational control. The controlling joint venture partner may have business interests, strategies or goals that are inconsistent with those of the Company. Business decisions or other actions or omissions of the controlling joint venture partner, or the joint venture company, may result in harm to the Company’s reputation or adversely affect the value of the Company’s investment in the joint venture.

A failure to identify suitable acquisition candidates or partners for strategic investments and to complete acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

As part of the Company’s business strategy, the Company intends to pursue a wide array of potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions of complementary businesses, as well as strategic investments and joint ventures. Although the Company regularly evaluates such opportunities, the Company may not be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates or to obtain sufficient financing on acceptable terms to fund such strategic transactions, which may slow the Company’s growth and have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The Company has been, and in the future may be, subject to costs, liabilities and other obligations under existing or new laws and regulations, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The Company is subject to increasingly numerous and complex laws, regulations and licensing requirements in each of the jurisdictions in which the Company conducts business. In addition, new laws and regulations may be enacted in the U.S. or abroad, the compliance of which may require the Company to incur additional personnel-related, environmental, or other costs on an ongoing basis.

In particular, the Company’s operations are subject to various environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing air emissions, wastewater discharges, and the use, storage, treatment, recycling and disposal of materials and finished product. The applicable requirements under these laws are subject to amendment, to the imposition of new or additional requirements and to changing interpretations of agencies or courts. The Company may incur material costs in order to comply with new or existing regulations, including fines and penalties and increased costs of its operations. For example, Extended Producer Responsibility laws place a shared responsibility for post-consumer product management on various entities involved in the supply chain, including producers and manufacturers. Expansion of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation in the jurisdictions where the Company operates could impose additional responsibility on the Company in relation to the ultimate treatment or disposal of its products, which could lead to an increase in total costs related to the Company’s products. Also, the Company’s manufacturing facilities may become subject to further limitations on the emission of “greenhouse gases” due to public policy concerns regarding climate change issues or other environmental or health and safety concerns. While the form of any additional regulations cannot be predicted, a “cap-and-trade” system similar to the system that applies to the Company’s businesses in the European Union could be adopted in the United States. The Company’s manufacturing processes use a significant amount of energy, especially natural gas. Any such “cap-and-trade” system or other limitations imposed on the emission of “greenhouse gases” could require the Company to increase its capital expenditures, use its cash to acquire emission credits or restructure its manufacturing operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on its business.

The Company’s business operations could suffer significant losses from natural disasters, catastrophes, fire, pandemics or other unexpected events.

Many of the Company’s business activities involve substantial investments in manufacturing facilities and many products are produced at a limited number of locations. These facilities could be materially damaged by natural disasters, such as floods, tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes, or by fire, pandemics (including COVID-19) or other unexpected events. The Company could incur uninsured losses and liabilities arising from such events, including damage to its reputation, and/or suffer material losses in operational capacity, which could have a material adverse impact on its business.

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The Company may be exposed to litigation, claims and other legal proceedings relating to its products, operations and compliance with various laws and regulations, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is subject to a variety of product-related claims, lawsuits and legal proceedings, including those relating to product liability, product warranty, product recall, personal injury, and other matters. The Company is also subject to various claims related to its operations and its compliance with various corporate laws and regulations, including a putative securities class action and related matters described in Note 16, Commitments and Contingencies. A very large claim or several similar claims asserted by a large class of plaintiffs could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, if the Company is unable to successfully defend against or resolve these matters or if its insurance coverage is insufficient to satisfy any judgments against the Company or settlements relating to these matters. Although the Company has product liability insurance and other types of insurance, the policies may not provide coverage for certain claims against the Company or may not be sufficient to cover all possible liabilities. Further, the Company may not be able to maintain insurance at commercially acceptable premium levels. Moreover, adverse publicity arising from claims made against the Company, even if the claims are not successful, could adversely affect the Company’s reputation or the reputation and sales of its products.

The long-term performance of the Company’s business relies on its ability to attract, develop and retain talented management.

The Company’s ability to attract, develop and retain qualified and talented personnel in management, sales, marketing, product design, and operations, including in new international markets into which the Company may enter, is key to the Company’s overall success. The Company competes with multinational firms for these employees and invests resources in recruiting, developing, motivating and retaining them. The failure to attract, develop, motivate and retain key employees could negatively affect the Company’s competitive position and its operating results.

The Company’s inability to maintain its patent licensing revenues could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The profit margins of certain of the Company’s businesses, particularly the Company’s Flooring ROW Segment, depend in part upon the Company’s ability to obtain, maintain and license proprietary technology used in the Company’s principal product families. The Company has filed and is continuing to file patents relating to many different aspects of the Company’s products and associated methods and is generating patent license revenues on these diverse patents; however, certain revenue-producing patents have expired or will expire. The failure to develop alternative revenues to replace expired or invalidated patents in the future could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The Company’s inability to protect its intellectual property rights could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business

The Company relies, in part, on the patent, trade secret and trademark laws of the U.S., countries in the European Union and elsewhere, as well as confidentiality agreements with some of the Company’s employees, to protect that technology. The Company cannot assure investors that any patents owned by or issued to it will provide the Company with competitive advantages, that third parties will not challenge these patents, or that the Company’s pending patent applications will be approved.

Furthermore, despite the Company’s efforts, the Company may be unable to prevent competitors and/or third parties from using the Company’s technology without the Company’s authorization, independently developing technology that is similar to that of the Company or designing around the Company’s patents. The use of the Company’s technology or similar technology by others could reduce or eliminate any competitive advantage the Company has developed, cause the Company to lose sales or otherwise harm the Company’s business.

The Company has obtained and applied for numerous U.S. and foreign service marks and trademark registrations and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional service marks and trademarks, as appropriate. The Company cannot guarantee that any of the Company’s pending or future applications will be approved by the applicable governmental authorities. The failure to obtain trademark registrations in the U.S. and in other countries could limit the Company’s ability to protect its trademarks and impede its marketing efforts in those jurisdictions and could have a material effect on its business.

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The Company generally requires third parties with access to the Company’s trade secrets to agree to keep such information confidential. While such measures are intended to protect the Company’s trade secrets, there can be no assurance that these agreements will not be breached, that the Company will have adequate remedies for any breach or that the Company’s confidential and proprietary information and technology will not be independently developed by or become otherwise known to third parties. In any of these circumstances, the Company’s competitiveness could be significantly impaired, which would limit the Company’s growth and future revenue.

Third parties may claim that the Company infringed their intellectual property or proprietary rights, which could cause the Company to incur significant expenses or prevent the Company from selling its products.

In the past, third parties have claimed that certain technologies incorporated in the Company’s products infringe their patent rights. The Company cannot be certain that the Company’s products do not and will not infringe issued patents or other intellectual property rights of others.

The Company might be required to pay substantial damages (including punitive damages and attorney’s fees), discontinue the use and sale of infringing products, expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology or obtain licenses authorizing the use of infringing technology. There can be no assurance that licenses for disputed technology or intellectual property rights would be available on reasonable commercial terms, if at all. In the event of a successful claim against the Company along with failure to develop or license a substitute technology, the Company’s business would be materially and adversely affected.

Information Technology Risks

The Company relies on information systems in managing the Company’s operations and any system failure or deficiency of such systems may have an adverse effect on the Company’s business.

The Company’s businesses rely on sophisticated software applications to obtain, process, analyze and manage data. The Company relies on these systems to, among other things:

•facilitate the purchase, management, distribution, and payment for inventory items;

•manage and monitor the daily operations of the Company’s distribution network;

•receive, process and ship orders on a timely basis;

•manage accurate billing to and collections from customers;

•control logistics and quality control for the Company’s retail operations;

•manage financial reporting; and

•monitor point of sale activity.

The Company also relies on its computer hardware, software and network for the storage, delivery and transmission of data to the Company’s sales and distribution systems, and certain of the Company’s production processes are managed and conducted by computer.

Any event that causes interruptions to the input, retrieval and transmission of data or increase in the service time could disrupt the Company’s normal operations. There can be no assurance that the Company can effectively carry out its disaster recovery plan to handle the failure of its information systems, or that the Company will be able to restore its operational capacity within sufficient time to avoid material disruption to its business. The occurrence of any of these events could cause unanticipated disruptions in service, decreased customer service and customer satisfaction, harm to the Company’s reputation and loss or misappropriation of sensitive information, which could result in loss of customers, increased operating expenses and financial losses. Any such events could in turn have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

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The Company is subject to cybersecurity risks and expects to incur increasing costs in an effort to minimize those risks.

The Company’s business employs systems that allow for the secure storage and transmission of customers’, consumers’, vendors’, employees’ and its own sensitive and proprietary information.  These systems may be subject to computer hacking, acts of vandalism or theft, malware, computer viruses or other malicious codes, phishing, employee error or malfeasance, catastrophes, unforeseen events or other cyber-attacks.  Any significant compromise or breach of the Company’s data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of customer, consumer, employee, supplier or Company data, could result in significant costs, lost sales, fines, lawsuits, and damage to the Company’s reputation. Furthermore, as cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, the Company expects to incur increasing costs to strengthen its systems from outside intrusions and to maintain insurance coverage related to the threat of such attacks. While the Company has implemented administrative and technical controls and has taken other preventive actions to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and protect its information technology, they may be insufficient to prevent, or respond to, physical and electronic break-ins, cyber-attacks or other security breaches to the Company’s systems. 

In addition, as the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to the Company’s business, compliance with those requirements could also result in additional costs to the Company. Any failure to comply with federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against the Company by government entities or others. In addition to reputational impacts, penalties could include significant legal liability.

Financial and Liquidity Risks

Changes in the global economy could affect the Company’s overall availability and cost of credit.

A downturn in the U.S. or global economies could impact the Company’s ability to obtain financing in the future, including any financing necessary to refinance existing indebtedness.

Further, negative economic conditions may factor into the Company’s periodic credit ratings assessment by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC (“S&P”) and Fitch, Inc. Any future changes in the credit rating agencies’ methodology in assessing the Company’s credit strength and any downgrades in the Company’s credit ratings could increase the cost of its existing credit and could adversely affect the cost of and ability to obtain additional credit in the future. The Company can provide no assurances that downgrades will not occur. The cost and availability of credit during uncertain economic times could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition.

If the Company were unable to meet certain covenants contained in its existing credit facilities, it may be required to repay borrowings under the credit facilities prior to their maturity and may lose access to the credit facilities for additional borrowings that may be necessary to fund its operations and growth strategy.

On October 18, 2019, the Company entered into a $1,800 million, senior revolving credit facility (the “Senior Credit Facility”) that provides for revolving credit, including limited amounts of credit in the form of letters of credit and swingline loans. Any outstanding borrowings under the Company’s U.S. and European commercial paper programs also reduce availability under the Senior Credit Facility. Including commercial paper borrowings, the Company has utilized approximately $0.8 million under the Senior Credit Facility resulting in a total of $1,799.2 million available as of December 31, 2020.

If the Company’s cash flow is worse than expected, the Company may need to refinance all or a portion of its indebtedness through a public and/or private debt offering or a new bank facility and may not be able to do so on terms acceptable to it, or at all. If the Company is unable to access debt markets at competitive rates or in sufficient amounts due to credit rating downgrades, market volatility, market disruption, or weakness in the Company’s businesses, the Company’s ability to finance its operations or repay existing debt obligations may be materially and adversely affected.

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Additionally, the Company’s credit facilities include certain affirmative and negative covenants that impose restrictions on the Company’s financial and business operations, including limitations on liens, indebtedness, fundamental changes, asset dispositions, dividends and other similar restricted payments, transactions with affiliates, payments and modifications of certain existing debt, future negative pledges, and changes in the nature of the Company’s business. In addition, the Senior Credit Facility requires the Company to maintain a Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio of at least 3.0 to 1.0 and a Consolidated Net Leverage Ratio of no more than 4.75 to 1.0 through December 31, 2021 and 3.75 after December 31, 2021. A failure to comply with the obligations contained in the Company’s current or future credit facilities or indentures relating to its outstanding public debt could result in an event of default or an acceleration of debt under other instruments that may contain cross-acceleration or cross-default provisions. The Company cannot be certain that it would have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments.

Declines in the Company’s business conditions may result in an impairment of the Company’s assets which could result in a material non-cash charge.

A significant or prolonged decrease in the Company’s market capitalization, including a decline in stock price, or a negative long-term performance outlook, could result in an impairment of its assets which results when the carrying value of the Company’s assets exceed their fair value.

Negative tax consequences could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business.

The Company is subject to the tax laws of the many jurisdictions in which it operates. These tax laws are complex, and the manner in which they apply to the Company’s facts is sometimes open to interpretation. In calculating the provision for income taxes, the Company must make judgments about the application of these inherently complex tax laws. The Company’s domestic and international tax liabilities are largely dependent upon the distribution of profit before tax among these many jurisdictions. However, the Company’s provision for income taxes also includes estimates of additional tax that may be incurred for tax exposures and reflects various estimates and assumptions, including assessments of future earnings of the Company that could impact the valuation of its deferred tax assets. The Company’s future results of operations and tax liability could be adversely affected by changes in the effective tax rate as a result of a change in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the overall profitability of the Company, changes in tax legislation and rates, changes in generally accepted accounting principles, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in the amount of earnings permanently reinvested offshore, the results of audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns, and ongoing assessments of the Company’s tax exposures.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain of the statements in this Form 10-K, particularly those anticipating future performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies, and similar matters, and those that include the words “could,” “should,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects” and “estimates” or similar expressions constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. For those statements, Mohawk claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements will be accurate because they are based on many assumptions, which involve risks and uncertainties. The following important factors could cause future results to differ: changes in economic or industry conditions; competition; inflation and deflation in freight, raw material prices and other input costs; inflation and deflation in consumer markets; currency fluctuations; energy costs and supply; timing and level of capital expenditures; timing and implementation of price increases for the Company’s products; impairment charges; integration of acquisitions; international operations; introduction of new products; rationalization of operations; tax and tax reform, product and other claims; litigation; the risks and uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory and political changes in the jurisdictions in which the Company does business; and other risks identified in Mohawk’s SEC reports and public announcements.

Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

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Item 2.Properties

The Company owns and leases manufacturing and distribution facilities worldwide. The table below lists the primary owned and leased facilities at December 31, 2020. The Company owns its Corporate Headquarters in Calhoun, GA. The Company also owns and operates service centers and stores in the United States and Russia, none of which are individually material. The Company believes its existing facilities are suitable for its present needs.

Segment and Property Use	North America	Europe and Russia	Other	Total
Global Ceramic
Manufacturing	8	11	2	21
Distribution / Warehouse	8	7	2	17
Flooring North America
Manufacturing	18	—	—	18
Distribution / Warehouse	11	—	—	11
Flooring Rest of the World
Manufacturing	—	16	5	21
Distribution / Warehouse	—	3	—	3
Total
Manufacturing	26	27	7	60
Distribution / Warehouse	19	10	2	31

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Item 3.Legal Proceedings

The Company is involved in litigation from time to time in the regular course of its business. Except as noted elsewhere in this report, there are no material legal proceedings pending or known by the Company to be contemplated to which the Company is a party or to which any of its property is subject.

See Note 16. Commitments and Contingencies, and Note 15. Income Taxes, of the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for a discussion of the Company’s legal proceedings.

Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures

The information concerning mine safety violations or other regulatory matters required by Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Item 104 of Regulation S-K is included in Exhibit 95.1 to this annual report on Form 10-K.

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PART II

Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market for the Common Stock

The Company’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “MHK.”

As of February 22, 2021, there were 222 holders of record of Common Stock. The Company has not paid or declared any cash dividends on shares of its Common Stock since completing its initial public offering. The payment of future cash dividends will be at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will depend upon the Company’s profitability, financial condition, cash requirements, future prospects and other factors deemed relevant by the Board of Directors.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

On October 26, 2020, after considering the Company’s liquidity position and strong cash flows, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the Company to repurchase up to $500 million of its common stock (“2020 Share Repurchase Program”). This was incremental to the previously approved 2018 Share Repurchase Program. In the fourth quarter 2020, the Company purchased $120.0 million of its common stock, exhausting the $57.1 million remaining under the 2018 Program as of October 26, 2020, and utilizing $62.8 million under the 2020 Program. As of December 31, 2020, there remains $437.2 million authorized under the 2020 Program.

Under the Share Repurchase Programs, the Company may purchase common stock in open market transactions, block or privately negotiated transactions, and may from time to time purchase shares pursuant to trading plans in accordance with Rules 10b5-1 or 10b-18 under the Exchange Act or by any combination of such methods. The number of shares to be purchased and the timing of the purchases are based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the level of cash balances, credit availability, debt covenant restrictions, general business conditions, regulatory requirements, the market price of the Company’s stock and the availability of alternative investment opportunities. No time limit was set for completion of repurchases under the Share Repurchase Programs and the Share Repurchase Programs may be suspended or discontinued at any time.

Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased in Millions	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plan in Millions	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plan in Millions
September 28 through October 30, 2020	—	$	—	—	$	557.1
November 2 through November 27, 2020	0.3	$	120.43	0.3	$	518.1
November 30 through December 31, 2020	0.6	$	133.67	0.6	$	437.2
Total	0.9	$	129.05	0.9

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Item 6.Selected Financial Data

The following table sets forth the selected financial data of the Company for the periods indicated which information is derived from the consolidated financial statements of the Company. The selected financial data should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the Company’s consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

	As of or for the Years Ended December 31,
	2020		2019	2018(a)	2017	2016
	(In thousands, except per share data)
Statement of operations data:
Net sales	$	9,552,197	9,970,672	9,983,634	9,491,290	8,959,087
Cost of sales	7,121,507		7,294,629	7,145,564	6,494,876	6,146,262
Gross profit	2,430,690		2,676,043	2,838,070	2,996,414	2,812,825
Selling, general and administrative expenses	1,794,688		1,848,819	1,742,744	1,642,241	1,532,882
Operating income	636,002		827,224	1,095,326	1,354,173	1,279,943
Interest expense	52,379		41,272	38,827	31,111	40,547
Other expense (income), net	(751)		36,407	7,298	5,205	(1,729)
Earnings before income taxes	584,374		749,545	1,049,201	1,317,857	1,241,125
Income tax expense	68,647		4,974	184,346	343,165	307,559
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests	515,727		744,571	864,855	974,692	933,566
Less: Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	132		360	3,151	3,054	3,204
Net earnings attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	515,595	744,211	861,704	971,638	930,362
Basic earnings from continuing operations per share	$	7.24	10.34	11.53	13.07	12.55
Basic earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	7.24	10.34	11.53	13.07	12.55
Diluted earnings from continuing operations per share	$	7.22	10.30	11.47	12.98	12.48
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	7.22	10.30	11.47	12.98	12.48
Balance sheet data:
Working capital	$	2,992,406	1,716,874	1,243,057	1,417,612	753,192
Total assets	14,327,751		13,386,680	13,099,123	12,094,853	10,230,596
Long-term debt (including current portion)	2,734,142		2,569,886	3,257,974	2,763,578	2,511,485
Total stockholders’ equity	8,541,158		8,126,448	7,440,059	7,067,009	5,783,487

(a)During 2018, the Company acquired Godfrey Hirst Group, Eliane S/A Revestimentos Ceramicos (“Eliane”) and 3 businesses in Flooring ROW segment as discussed in Note 2 of the notes to consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

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Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview

The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s Results of Operations includes a comparison of fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2019. A similar discussion and analysis that compares fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2018 may be found in Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” of the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

During the past two decades, the Company has grown significantly. Its current geographic breadth and diverse product offering are reflected in three reporting segments: Global Ceramic; Flooring North America (“Flooring NA”); and Flooring Rest of the World (“Flooring ROW”). The Global Ceramic Segment designs, manufactures, sources and markets a broad line of ceramic tile, porcelain tile, natural stone tile and other products including natural stone, quartz and porcelain slab countertops, which it distributes primarily in North America, Europe, Brazil and Russia through various selling channels, which include company-owned stores, independent distributors and home centers. The Flooring NA Segment designs, manufactures, sources and markets its floor covering products, including broadloom carpet, carpet tile, rugs, carpet cushion, laminate and vinyl products, including luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and sheet vinyl, and wood flooring, all of which it distributes through its network of regional distribution centers and satellite warehouses using Company-operated trucks, common carriers or rail transportation. The Segment’s product lines are sold through various channels, including independent floor covering retailers, independent distributors, home centers, mass merchandisers, department stores, shop at home, online retailers, buying groups, commercial contractors and commercial end users. The Flooring ROW Segment designs, manufactures, sources, licenses and markets laminate, vinyl products, including LVT and sheet vinyl, wood flooring, roofing panels, insulation boards, medium-density fiberboard (“MDF”) and chipboards, which it distributes primarily in Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand through various channels, including independent floor covering retailers, independent distributors, company-owned distributors, home centers, commercial contractors and commercial end users.

Mohawk is a significant supplier of every major flooring category with manufacturing operations in 18 nations and sales in more than 170 countries. Based on its annual sales, the Company believes it is the world’s largest flooring manufacturer. A majority of the Company’s long-lived assets are located in the United States and Europe, which are also the Company’s primary markets. Additionally, the Company maintains operations in United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and other parts of the world. The Company is a leading provider of flooring for residential and commercial markets and has earned significant recognition for its innovation in design and performance as well as sustainability.

Due to its global footprint, Mohawk’s business is sensitive to macroeconomic events in the United States and abroad. The current environment has placed unprecedented demands on the Company’s operations as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to the Company's markets and operations around the world. While the near-term economic and financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is improving in its residential markets, the Company expects that it will continue to see fluctuating demand across a number of its markets. In order to mitigate the impact of lower demand during the initial stages of the pandemic, the Company was able to utilize retention related tax credits and certain tax deferrals for employers where the Company has significant operations. During the year, the Company also completed actions prompted by the evolving health crisis to enhance future performance including site closings, other facility and product rationalizations and workforce reductions. The Company anticipates these global actions will deliver savings of approximately $100 to $110 million of which approximately $50 million was realized in 2020, with 2020 cost of $150 million.

The Company believes it has the experience and resources necessary to capitalize on opportunities that will arise as employees return to work around the world and macroeconomic conditions improve. The Company also believes it is well positioned with a strong balance sheet and limited debt. During 2020, the Company issued over $1 billion of long-term bonds to strengthen its ability to strategically invest and better position itself for the future. Finally, the Company is following the recommendations of local health authorities to minimize exposure risk for its employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders. For information on risk factors that could impact the Company’s results, please refer to “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

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In 2018, the Company completed five acquisitions: two that expanded the Company’s global footprint with leadership positions in major markets and three that extended the Company’s product offering and distribution in Europe. The Godfrey Hirst acquisition established the Company as the largest flooring manufacturer in Australia and New Zealand, with leading carpet and hard surface positions in both countries when combined with the Company’s existing regional flooring distribution business. Godfrey Hirst’s prestigious wool carpet collections are exported to numerous international markets and have been integrated into the U.S. soft surface product portfolio to expand sales. The acquisition of Brazil-based Eliane provided the Company with a leading ceramic tile position, the most appealing brand in one of the world’s largest ceramic tile markets and a gateway into the overall South American market as Eliane is Brazil’s largest ceramic exporter. The Company has made significant investments in both Godfrey Hirst and Eliane to upgrade product offerings, expand capacity and improve processes. The acquisition of Berghoef, a leading European mezzanine flooring company, created a leading position in a category that is rapidly expanding due to increased construction of e-commerce warehousing across the continent. The acquisition of Swiss and Italian hard surface distributors expanded the Company’s direct distribution of flooring sales in Europe, and two more hard surfaces distributors in The Netherlands and the Czech Republic were added in 2019.

In 2020, the Company invested $425.6 million in capital projects to introduce new product categories, enter new markets, expand capacity of constrained premium products and improve productivity.  In 2021, the Company plans to invest approximately an additional $570-$590 million to complete existing projects and commence new initiatives. The Company plans to invest in cost reduction initiatives, upgrades in recent acquisitions and previously initiated expansion projects as well as maintenance across the businesses. The main investment areas include the Company’s recently acquired ceramic tile business in Brazil and the Godfrey Hirst Group in Australia and New Zealand where the Company is investing to upgrade its product offering and improve profitability; premium water-proof laminate in the U.S.; outdoor porcelain pavers manufacturing in Europe; and premium sanitary ware manufacturing in Russia. 

Net earnings attributable to the Company were $515.6 million, or diluted EPS of $7.22 for 2020 compared to net earnings attributable to the Company of $744.2 million, or diluted EPS of $10.30 for 2019. The Company’s operations and net earnings for the period were unfavorably affected by disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The change in EPS was primarily attributable to the unfavorable net impact of lower volumes, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix, costs due to reducing production, higher restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs, and costs associated with investments in new product development, partially offset by productivity gains and lower inflation costs.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company generated $1,769.8 million of cash from operating activities. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $768.6 million, of which $331.7 million was in the United States and $436.9 million was in foreign countries, in addition to $571.7 million in short-term investments. On May 14, 2020, the Company issued $500.0 million of 3.625% senior notes due May 15, 2030, which the Company used to pay off existing short-term debt. On June 12, 2020, a subsidiary of the Company issued €500.0 million of 1.750% senior notes due June 12, 2027, which the Company has used to strengthen its balance sheet in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Results of Operations

Following are the results of operations for the last two years:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2020				2019
	(In millions)
Statement of operations data:
Net sales	$	9,552.2	100.0	%	9,970.7	100.0	%
Cost of sales (1)	7,121.5		74.6	%	7,294.6	73.2	%
Gross profit	2,430.7		25.4	%	2,676.0	26.8	%
Selling, general and administrative expenses (2)	1,794.7		18.8	%	1,848.8	18.5	%
Operating income	636.0		6.7	%	827.2	8.3	%
Interest expense (3)	52.4		0.5	%	41.3	0.4	%
Other expense (income) (4)	(0.8)		0.0	%	36.4	0.4	%
Earnings before income taxes	584.4		6.1	%	749.5	7.5	%
Income tax expense (5)	68.6		0.7	%	5.0	0.1	%
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests	515.7		5.4	%	744.6	7.5	%
Less: Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0.1		—	%	0.4	—	%
Net earnings attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	515.6	5.4	%	744.2	7.5	%
(1)  Cost of sales includes:
Restructuring, acquisition and integration-related charges	$	102.4	1.1	%	88.3	0.9	%
Acquisition inventory step-up	—		—	%	3.9	—	%
Other	24.5		0.3	%	5.8	0.1	%
(2)  Selling, general and administrative expenses include:
Restructuring, acquisition and integration-related charges	26.5		0.3	%	12.9	0.1	%
Reversal of uncertain tax position indemnification asset	—		0.0	%	0.2	—	%
Other charges	10.1		0.1	%	—	—	%
(3)  Interest expense includes:
Deferred loan cost write-off	—		0.0	%	0.6	—	%
(4)  Other expense (income) includes:
Impairment of net investment in a manufacturer and distributor of Ceramic tile in China	—		0.0	%	59.9	0.6	%
Reversal of uncertain tax position indemnification asset	(0.3)		—	%	(0.3)	—	%
Other	3.6		—	%	(7.2)	(0.1)	%
(5) Income tax expense (income) includes:
European Restructuring	—		0.0	%	(136.2)	(1.4)	%
Reversal of uncertain tax position	0.3		—	%	0.1	—	%

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Year Ended December 31, 2020, as Compared with Year Ended December 31, 2019

Net sales

The Company’s global sales were affected by broader economic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in decreased demand during the period. Net sales for 2020 were $9,552.2 million, reflecting a decrease of $418.5 million, or 4.2%, from the $9,970.7 million reported for 2019. The decrease was primarily attributable to the lower sales volume of approximately $240 million, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $119 million, and the unfavorable net impact from foreign exchange rates of approximately $59 million.

Global Ceramic Segment—Net sales decreased $198.3 million, or 5.5%, to $3,432.8 million for 2020, compared to $3,631.1 million for 2019. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower sales volume of approximately $89 million, the unfavorable net impact from foreign exchange rates of approximately $77 million, and the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $33 million.

Flooring NA Segment—Net sales decreased $249.6 million, or 6.5%, to $3,594.1 million for 2020, compared to $3,843.7 million for 2019. The decrease was attributable to lower volumes of approximately $200 million, and the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $49 million.

Flooring ROW Segment—Net sales increased $29.6 million, or 1.2%, to $2,525.4 million for 2020, compared to $2,495.8 million for 2019. The increase was primarily attributable to higher sales volume of approximately $49 million, and favorable net impact from foreign exchange rates of approximately $18 million, partially offset by the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $37 million.

Quarterly net sales and the percentage changes in net sales by quarter for 2020 versus 2019 were as follows (dollars in millions):

	2020		2019	Change
First quarter	$	2,285.8	2,442.5	(6.4)	%
Second quarter	2,049.8		2,584.5	(20.7)	%
Third quarter	2,574.9		2,519.2	2.2	%
Fourth quarter	2,641.8		2,424.5	9.0	%
Total year	$	9,552.2	9,970.7	(4.2)	%

Gross profit

The Company experienced increased costs associated with short-term reductions in manufacturing output in addition to decreased demand as a result of the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gross profit for 2020 was $2,430.7 million (25.4% of net sales), a decrease of $245.3 million or 9.2%, compared to gross profit of $2,676.0 million (26.8% of net sales) for 2019. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit decreased 140 basis points. The decrease in gross profit dollars was primarily attributable to the lower sales volume of approximately $128 million, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $122 million, costs due to temporarily reduced production of approximately $116 million, the impact of restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $29 million, and the unfavorable net impact from foreign exchange rates of approximately $20 million, partially offset by productivity gain of approximately $88 million, lower inflation of approximately $75 million and approximately $9 million of lower startup cost.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses for 2020 were $1,794.7 million (18.8% of net sales), an decrease of $54.1 million or (2.9)% compared to $1,848.8 million (18.5% of net sales) for 2019. As a percentage of net sales, selling, general and administrative expenses increased 30 basis points. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses in dollars was primarily attributable to productivity gain of approximately $93 million, favorable foreign exchange rates of approximately $9 million, partially offset by the impact of restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $23 million, higher inflation costs of approximately $19 million, and approximately $10 million of costs associated with investments in new product development, sales personnel and marketing.

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Operating income

As previously discussed, the Company’s operations for the year were negatively impacted by disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in decreased demand and increased costs associated with short-term reductions in manufacturing output. Operating income for 2020 was $636.0 million (6.7% of net sales) reflecting a decrease of $191.2 million, or 23.1%, compared to operating income of $827.2 million (8.3% of net sales) for 2019. The decrease in operating income was primarily attributable to approximately $133 million due to lower sales volume, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $122 million, approximately $116 million of costs due to temporarily reduced production, the impact of restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $52 million, and approximately $10 million of costs associated with investments in new product development, partially offset by higher productivity gain of approximately $180 million, lower inflation costs of approximately $56 million, and lower startup costs of approximately $15 million.

Global Ceramic Segment—Operating income was $167.7 million (4.9% of segment net sales) for 2020 reflecting a decrease of $167.9 million, or 50.0%, compared to operating income of $335.6 million (9.2% of segment net sales) for 2019. The decrease in operating income was primarily attributable to approximately $69 million of costs due to temporarily reduced production, the impact of restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $57 million, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $52 million, approximately $49 million due to lower sales volume, higher inflation costs of approximately $7 million, and approximately $5 million of costs associated with investments in new product development, sales personnel and marketing, partially offset by higher productivity gain of approximately $70 million.

Flooring NA Segment—Operating income was $147.4 million (4.1% of segment net sales) for 2020 reflecting a decrease of $30.2 million, or 17.0%, compared to operating income of $177.6 million (4.6% of segment net sales) for 2019. The decrease in operating income was primarily attributable to approximately $81 million in decreased sales volume, the unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $40 million, approximately $31 million of costs due to temporarily reduced production, partially offset by higher productivity gain of approximately $61 million, the impact of lower restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $29 million, lower inflation costs of approximately $28 million and lower startup costs of approximately $4 million.

Flooring ROW Segment—Operating income was $366.9 million (14.5% of segment net sales) for 2020 reflecting an increase of $13.2 million, or 3.7%, compared to operating income of $353.7 million (14.2% of segment net sales) for 2019. The increase in operating income was primarily attributable to higher productivity gain of approximately $48 million, lower inflation costs of approximately $38 million, partially offset by unfavorable net impact of price and product mix of approximately $30 million, the impact of restructuring, acquisition and integration-related costs of approximately $20 million, approximately $16 million of costs due to temporarily reduced production, and the unfavorable net impact from foreign exchange rates of approximately $9 million.

Interest expense

Interest expense was $52.4 million for 2020, reflecting an increase of $11.1 million compared to interest expense of $41.3 million for 2019. During the second quarter of 2020, the Company issued new long-term debt to strengthen its liquidity position during the early months of the COVID pandemic. The new debt issuance shifted the Company from a mix of fixed and floating rate debt, with a lower average interest rate, to more fixed rate debt, which carries a higher average interest rate.

Other expense (income)

Other income was $0.8 million for 2020, reflecting a favorable change of $37.2 million compared to other expense of $36.4 million for 2019. The change was primarily attributable to a net impairment charge of $59.9 million related to the Company’s net investment in a manufacturer and distributor of ceramic tile in China in 2019, partially offset by unfavorable FX and other miscellaneous items.

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Income tax expense

For 2020, the Company recorded income tax expense of $68.6 million on earnings before income taxes of $584.4 million for an effective tax rate of 11.7%, as compared to an income tax expense of $5.0 million on earnings before income taxes of $749.5 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 0.7% for 2019. In 2020, the Company realized a $33.8 million carryback rate differential in the U.S. and had a $10.3 million tax benefit from a foreign exchange loss on previously taxed earnings distributed during the year. In 2019, the Company implemented select operational, administrative and financial restructurings that centralized certain business processes and intangible assets in various European jurisdictions into a new entity. This implementation resulted in a net tax benefit of $136.2 million. In both 2020 and 2019, the Company was favorably impacted by its geographic mix of earnings.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Company’s primary capital requirements are for working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions. The Company’s capital needs are met primarily through a combination of internally generated funds, commercial paper, bank credit lines, term and senior notes and credit terms from suppliers. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had a total of $1,799.2 million available under its Senior Credit Facility. The Company also maintains local currency revolving lines of credit and other credit facilities to provide liquidity to its businesses around the world.  None of such local facilities are material in amount.

Management has and will continue to evaluate its liquidity needs and strategy regarding capital resources as the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. In the second quarter of 2020, the Company issued $500.0 million of 3.625% senior notes, and a subsidiary of the Company issued €500.0 million of 1.750% senior notes, with ten and seven-year terms, respectively. The Company has taken multiple actions including managing inventory and production capacity, and reduced headcount through furloughs and layoffs. Management believes these actions along with cash secured from increased borrowing and continuing operations will allow the Company to take advantage of new opportunities.

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended 2020 was $1,769.8 million, compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $1,418.8 million for the year ended 2019. This increase of $351.1 million was primarily attributable to changes in working capital, partially offset by lower net earnings. The increase in cash provided by operating activities for 2019 as compared to 2018 of $237.4 million was primarily attributable to changes in working capital, partially offset by lower net earnings.

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended 2020 was $954.8 million compared to net cash used in investing activities of $616.0 million for the year ended 2019. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the purchases of short-term investments of $539.7 million (net of redemption of short-term investments), partially offset by reduced capital expenditures of $119.9 million and a decrease in acquisition costs of $81.1 million. Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended 2019 was $616.0 million compared to net cash used in investing activities of $1,332.2 million for the year ended 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a $487.9 million reduction in acquisitions and a $248.6 million reduction in capital expenditures.

Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended 2020 was $188.2 million compared to net cash used in financing activities of $789.9 million for the year ended 2019. The change in cash used in financing is primarily attributable to the proceeds from the Senior Notes of $735.3 million (net of repayments of $326.9 million), partially offset by the increase in purchases of the Company’s shares of $88.5 million. Net cash used in financing activities for the year ended 2019 was $789.9 million compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $198.0 million for the year ended 2018. The change in cash used in financing is primarily attributable to lower borrowings of commercial paper of $860.6 million.

On October 26, 2020, after considering the Company’s liquidity position and strong cash flows, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the Company to repurchase up to $500 million of its common stock. This was incremental to the previously approved 2018 Share Repurchase Program. In the fourth quarter 2020, the Company purchased $120.0 million of its common stock, exhausting the $57.1 million remaining under the 2018 Program as of October 26, 2020, and utilizing $62.8 million under the 2020 Program. As of December 31, 2020, there remains $437.2 million authorized under the 2020 Program.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had cash of $768.6 million, of which $436.9 million was held outside the United States. In addition to its cash on hand, the Company also had short-term investments of $571.7 million as of December 31, 2020. The Company plans to permanently reinvest the cash held outside the United States. The Company believes that its cash and cash equivalents, and short-term investments on hand, cash generated from operations and availability under its Senior Credit Facility will be sufficient to meet its planned capital expenditure, further working capital investment and debt servicing requirements over the next twelve months.

See Note 10. Long-Term Debt, of the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further discussion of the Company’s long-term debt. The Company may continue, from time to time, to retire its outstanding debt through cash purchases in the open market, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Such repurchases, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, the Company’s liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amount involved may be material.

31

Contractual obligations and commitments

The following is a summary of the Company’s future minimum payments under contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2020 (in millions):

	Total		2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Thereafter
Contractual obligations and commitments:
Long-term debt, including current maturities	$	2,745.3	377.2	622.8	607.1	5.5	4.1	1,128.6
Interest payments on long-term debt and finance leases (1)	301.4		65.1	53.6	31.3	29.3	29.2	92.9
Operating leases	355.0		113.2	88.6	60.1	38.8	26.8	27.5
Purchase commitments (2)	412.7		167.8	48.0	21.9	21.9	21.9	131.2
Expected pension contributions (3)	3.1		3.1	—	—	—	—	—
Uncertain tax positions (4)	3.6		3.6	—	—	—	—	—
Guarantees (5)	45.2		22.3	5.7	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.3
Total	$	3,866.3	752.3	818.7	724.7	99.8	86.3	1,384.5

(1)For fixed rate debt, the Company calculated interest based on the applicable rates and payment dates. For variable rate debt, the Company estimated average outstanding balances for the respective periods and applied interest rates in effect as of December 31, 2020 to these balances.

(2)Includes volume commitments for primarily raw material purchases.

(3)Includes the estimated pension contributions for 2021 only, as the Company is unable to estimate the pension contributions beyond 2021. The Company’s projected benefit obligation and plan assets as of December 31, 2020 were $86.7 million and $68.4 million, respectively. The projected benefit obligation liability has not been presented in the table above due to uncertainty as to amounts and timing regarding future payments.

(4)Excludes $44.7 million of non-current accrued income tax liabilities and related interest and penalties for uncertain tax positions. These liabilities have not been presented in the table above due to uncertainty as to amounts and timing regarding future payments.

(5)Includes bank guarantees and letters of credit.

Critical Accounting Policies

In preparing the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, the Company must make decisions which impact the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosures. Such decisions include the selection of appropriate accounting principles to be applied and the assumptions on which to base accounting estimates. In reaching such decisions, the Company applies judgment based on its understanding and analysis of the relevant circumstances and historical experience. Actual amounts could differ from those estimated at the time the consolidated financial statements are prepared.

The Company’s significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K. Some of those significant accounting policies require the Company to make subjective or complex judgments or estimates. Critical accounting estimates are defined as those that are both most important to the portrayal of a company’s financial condition and results and require management’s most difficult, subjective, or complex judgment, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain and may change in subsequent periods.

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The Company believes the following accounting policies require it to use judgments and estimates in preparing its consolidated financial statements and represent critical accounting policies.

•Accounts receivable and revenue recognition. The Company recognizes revenues when it satisfies performance obligations as evidenced by the transfer of control of the promised goods to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods. The nature of the promised goods are ceramic, stone, carpet, resilient, laminate, wood and other flooring products. Payment is typically received 90 days or less from the invoice date. The Company adjusts the amounts of revenue for expected cash discounts, sales allowances, returns, and claims, based upon historical experience. The Company adjusts accounts receivable for doubtful account allowances based upon relevant information about past events, including historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect the collectability of the reported amount, periodic evaluation of specific customer accounts, and the aging of accounts receivable. If the Company expects the financial condition of the Company’s customers to deteriorate based on current conditions or reasonable and supportable forecasts, additional allowances may be required. A 10% change in the Company’s allowance for discounts, returns, claims and doubtful accounts would have affected net earnings by approximately $7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

•Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market (net realizable value). Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market (net realizable value). Cost has been determined using the first-in first-out method (“FIFO”). Costs included in inventory include raw materials, direct and indirect labor and employee benefits, depreciation, general manufacturing overhead and various other costs of manufacturing. Market, with respect to all inventories, is replacement cost or net realizable value. Inventories on hand are compared against anticipated future usage, which is a function of historical usage, anticipated future selling price, expected sales below cost, excessive quantities and an evaluation for obsolescence. Actual results could differ from assumptions used to value obsolete inventory, excessive inventory or inventory expected to be sold below cost, and a 10% change in the Company’s assumptions for excess or obsolete inventory would have affected net earnings by approximately $18 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

•Acquisition Accounting. The fair value of the consideration the Company pays for each new acquisition is allocated to tangible assets and identifiable intangible assets, liabilities assumed, any noncontrolling interest in the acquired entity and goodwill.  The accounting for acquisitions involves a considerable amount of judgment and estimate, including the fair value of certain forms of consideration; fair value of acquired intangible assets involving projections of future revenues and cash flows that are then either discounted at an estimated discount rate or measured at an estimated royalty rate; fair value of other acquired assets and assumed liabilities, including potential contingencies; and the useful lives of the acquired assets. The assumptions used are determined at the time of the acquisition in accordance with accepted valuation models.  Projections are developed using internal forecasts, available industry and market data and estimates of long-term rates of growth for the business. The impact of prior or future acquisitions on the Company’s financial position or results of operations may be materially impacted by the change in or initial selection of assumptions and estimates.  See Note 2, Acquisitions included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further discussion of business combination accounting valuation methodology and assumptions.  

•Goodwill and other intangibles. Goodwill is tested annually for impairment in the fourth quarter or earlier upon the occurrence of certain events or substantive changes in circumstances. The Company considers the relationship between its market capitalization and its book value, among other factors, when reviewing for indicators of impairment. The goodwill impairment tests are based on determining the fair value of the specified reporting units based on management judgments and assumptions using the discounted cash flows and comparable company market valuation approaches. The Company has identified Global Ceramic, Flooring NA and Flooring ROW as its reporting units for the purposes of allocating goodwill and intangibles as well as assessing impairments. The valuation approaches are subject to key judgments and assumptions that are sensitive to change such as judgments and assumptions about appropriate sales growth rates, operating margins, weighted average cost of capital (“WACC”), and comparable company market multiples. When developing these key judgments and assumptions, the Company considers economic, operational and market conditions that could impact the fair value of the reporting unit. However, estimates are inherently uncertain and represent only management’s reasonable expectations regarding future developments. These estimates and the judgments and assumptions upon which the estimates are based will, in all likelihood, differ in some respects from actual future results. Should a significant or prolonged deterioration in economic conditions occur, such as declines in spending for new construction, remodeling and replacement activities; the inability to pass increases in the costs of raw materials and fuel on to customers; or a decline in comparable company market multiples, then key judgments and assumptions could be impacted. Generally, a decline in estimated after tax cash flows greater than approximately10% to 33% or a percentage increase of approximately 7% to 38% in WACC or a significant or prolonged decline in market capitalization could result in an additional indication of impairment.

33

The impairment test for intangible assets not subject to amortization involves a comparison of the estimated fair value of the intangible asset with its carrying value. If the carrying value of the intangible asset exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. Significant judgments inherent in this analysis include assumptions about appropriate sales growth rates, royalty rates, WACC and the amount of expected future cash flows. These judgments and assumptions are subject to the variability discussed above.

The impairment evaluation for indefinite lived intangible assets, which for the Company are its trademarks, is conducted on the first day of the fourth quarter of each year, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that an asset might be impaired. The determination of fair value used in the impairment evaluation is based on discounted estimates of future sales projections attributable to ownership of the trademarks. Significant judgments inherent in this analysis include assumptions about appropriate sales growth rates, royalty rates, WACC and the amount of expected future cash flows. The judgments and assumptions used in the estimate of fair value are generally consistent with past performance and are also consistent with the projections and assumptions that are used in operating plans. Such assumptions are subject to change as a result of changing economic and competitive conditions. The determination of fair value is highly sensitive to differences between estimated and actual cash flows and changes in the related discount rate used to evaluate the fair value of the trademarks. Estimated cash flows are sensitive to changes in the economy among other things.

The Company reviews its long-lived asset groups, which include intangible assets subject to amortization, which for the Company are its patents and customer relationships, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such asset groups may not be recoverable. Recoverability of asset groups to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of long-lived assets to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by these asset groups. If such asset groups are considered to be impaired, the impairment recognized is the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds the fair value of the asset group. Assets held for sale are reported at the lower of the carrying amount or fair value less estimated costs of disposal and are no longer depreciated.

The Company conducted its annual assessment of goodwill and indefinite lived intangibles on the first day of the fourth quarter and no impairment was indicated for 2020. While the Company has concluded that neither goodwill nor any of its indefinite-lived intangible assets were impaired during the year ended December 31, 2020, a prolonged pandemic could impact the Company’s assumptions utilized in the determination of the estimated fair values of the Company’s reporting units and indefinite-lived intangible assets significantly enough to trigger an impairment. Hence, the Company continues to monitor the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and may be required to reassess impairment of goodwill or indefinite-lived intangible assets in future interim periods.

•Income taxes. The Company’s effective tax rate is based on its income, statutory tax rates and tax planning opportunities available in the jurisdictions in which it operates. Tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by the taxpayer and respective governmental taxing authorities. Significant judgment is required in determining the Company’s tax expense and in evaluating the Company’s tax positions. Deferred tax assets represent amounts available to reduce income taxes payable on taxable income in a future period. The Company evaluates the recoverability of these future tax benefits by assessing the adequacy of future expected taxable income from all sources, including reversal of taxable temporary differences, forecasted operating earnings and available tax planning strategies. These sources of income inherently rely on estimates, including business forecasts and other projections of financial results over an extended period of time. In the event that the Company is not able to realize all or a portion of its deferred tax assets in the future, a valuation allowance is provided. The Company would recognize such amounts through a charge to income in the period in which that determination is made or when tax law changes are enacted. For further information regarding the Company’s valuation allowances, see Note 15, Income Taxes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

In the ordinary course of business there is inherent uncertainty in quantifying the Company’s income tax positions. The Company assesses its income tax positions and records tax benefits for all years subject to examination based upon the Company’s evaluation of the facts, circumstances and information available as of the reporting date. For those tax positions where it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, the Company has recorded the largest amount of tax benefit with a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement with a taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant information, as required by the provisions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic (“ASC”) 740-10. For those income tax positions where it is not more likely than not that a tax benefit will be sustained, no tax benefit has been recognized in the consolidated financial statements. For further information regarding the Company’s uncertain tax positions, see Note 15, Income Taxes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

34

•Environmental and legal accruals. Environmental and legal accruals are estimates based on judgments made by the Company relating to ongoing environmental and legal proceedings, as disclosed in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. In determining whether a liability is probable and reasonably estimable, the Company consults with its internal experts. The Company believes that the amounts recorded in the accompanying financial statements are based on the best estimates and judgments available to it.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 1(y), “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies”, of the Company’s accompanying audited Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for a description of recent accounting pronouncements including the dates, or expected dates of adoption, and effects, or expected effects, on the Company’s disclosures, results of operations and financial condition.

Impact of Inflation

Inflation affects the Company’s manufacturing costs, distribution costs and operating expenses. The Company expects raw material prices, many of which are petroleum based, to fluctuate based upon worldwide supply and demand of commodities utilized in the Company’s production processes. Although the Company attempts to pass on increases in raw material, energy and fuel-related costs to its customers, the Company’s ability to do so is dependent upon the rate and magnitude of any increase, competitive pressures and market conditions for the Company’s products. There have been in the past, and may be in the future, periods of time during which increases in these costs cannot be fully recovered. In the past, the Company has often been able to enhance productivity and develop new product innovations to help offset increases in costs resulting from inflation in its operations.

Seasonality

The Company is a calendar year-end company. With respect to its Global Ceramic segment, the second quarter typically sees highest net sales, followed by the third and fourth quarters while the first quarter shows weakest net sales. For the segment’s operating income, generally, the second quarter shows the strongest earnings, followed by third and first quarters, and the fourth quarter shows weakest earnings. The Flooring NA segment’s third quarter typically produces the highest net sales and earnings followed by moderate second and fourth quarters, and a weakest first quarter. The Flooring ROW segment’s fourth quarter historically typically produces the highest net sales followed by moderate third and second quarters, and a weakest first quarter. For the segment’s operating income, generally, the second quarter shows the strongest earnings, followed by third and first quarters, and the fourth quarter shows weakest earnings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant volatility in the global economy and has led to reduced economic activity, employment disruptions and supply chain constraints. The Company expects the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to impact normal seasonality trends into 2021, but the extent and duration of such impact cannot be predicted.

35

Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

The Company’s market risk is impacted by changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and certain commodity prices. Financial exposures to these risks are monitored as an integral part of the Company’s risk management program, which seeks to reduce the potentially adverse effect that the volatility of these markets may have on its operating results. The Company does not regularly engage in speculative transactions, nor does it regularly hold or issue financial instruments for trading purposes. Excluding the hedge of net investment discussed in Note 1(r) “Hedges of Net Investments in Non-U.S. Operations”, of the Company’s accompanying consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K, the Company did not have any derivative contracts outstanding as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Interest Rate Risk

As of December 31, 2020, approximately 87% of the Company’s debt portfolio was comprised of fixed-rate debt and 13% was floating-rate debt. The Company believes that probable near-term changes in interest rates would not materially affect its financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. The annual impact on interest expense of a one-percentage point interest rate change on the outstanding balance of the Company’s variable rate debt as of December 31, 2020 would be approximately $3 million or $0.04 to diluted EPS.

Foreign Exchange Risk

As a result of being a global enterprise, there is exposure to market risks from changes in foreign currency exchange rates, which may adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of the Company. Principal foreign currency exposures relate primarily to the euro and to a lesser extent the Russian ruble, the Mexican peso, the Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar, the British pound and the Brazilian real.

The Company’s objective is to balance, where possible, non-functional currency denominated assets to non-functional currency denominated liabilities to have a natural hedge and minimize foreign exchange impacts. The Company enters into cross border transactions through importing and exporting goods to and from different countries and locations. These transactions generate foreign exchange risk as they create assets, liabilities and cash flows in currencies other than their functional currency. This also applies to services provided and other cross border agreements among subsidiaries.

The Company takes steps to minimize risks from foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations through normal operating and financing activities. The Company does not enter into any speculative positions with regard to derivative instruments.

Based on financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020, a hypothetical overall 10 percent change in the U.S. dollar against the euro would have resulted in a translational adjustment of approximately $41 million.

36

Item 8.Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	38
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019	41
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018	42
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the Years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018	43
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity for the Years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018	44
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018	45
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	46

37

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors

Mohawk Industries, Inc.:

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Mohawk Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and our report dated February 24, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Adoption of ASU 2016-02

As discussed in Notes 1 and 12 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company has changed its method of accounting for leases as of January 1, 2019 due to the adoption of ASU 2016-02, Leases, and subsequently issued additional ASUs amending this ASU (collectively ASC 842, Leases).

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Assessment of the carrying value of goodwill in the Flooring North America and Global Ceramic reporting units

As discussed in Note 8 to the consolidated financial statements, the goodwill balance as of December 31, 2020 was $2,650.8 million, of which $531.1 million and $1,047.6 million related to the Flooring North America reporting unit and the Global Ceramic reporting unit, respectively. The Company performs goodwill impairment testing on an annual basis and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of goodwill might exceed the fair value of a reporting unit. The reporting units’ operating income declined during 2020 due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, lower sales volumes and other operational and market conditions. These conditions indicated that there could be a higher risk of goodwill impairment.

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We identified the assessment of the carrying value of goodwill in the Flooring North America and Global Ceramic reporting units as a critical audit matter. Specifically, the assessment of the Company’s forecasted sales growth rates, forecasted operating margins, discount rates, and selection of comparable company market multiples used in the Company’s fair value estimation of the reporting units required a higher degree of subjective auditor judgment and required the involvement of valuation professionals. Changes in these assumptions could have a significant impact on the fair value of the reporting units.

The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls over the Company’s goodwill impairment assessment process including controls over the reasonableness of the assumptions listed above. We evaluated the Company’s forecasted sales growth rates and operating margins for each reporting unit, and compared the growth assumptions to the Company’s historical performance and to relevant market data. To assess the Company’s ability to estimate cash flows, including forecasted sales growth rates and operating margins, we compared the Company’s historical cash flow forecasts to actual results. We also performed sensitivity analyses over certain assumptions listed above to assess their impact on the Company’s determination that the fair value of the Flooring North America and Global Ceramic reporting units exceeded their carrying values. We involved valuation professionals with specialized skills and knowledge, who assisted in evaluating the reporting units’ discount rates by comparing them to discount rates that were independently developed using publicly available market data for comparable companies and the Company’s selection of comparable company market multiples.

Evaluation of the realizability of the deferred tax asset related to certain foreign intangible assets

As discussed in Note 15 to the consolidated financial statements, as of December 31, 2020, the Company had a $152.5 million deferred tax asset related to intangibles, which included a deferred tax asset related to amortization of the tax basis of certain intangible assets in a foreign entity.

The Company determined that projected future income of the entity will be sufficient to fully realize the deferred tax asset and accordingly has not recorded a valuation allowance. Assessments of future income could impact the valuation of deferred tax assets.

We identified the evaluation of the realizability of the deferred tax asset related to certain foreign intangible assets as a critical audit matter. A high degree of auditor judgment was required to evaluate the projected future income assumptions used in the Company’s long-term deferred tax asset recovery period. Specifically, subjective auditor judgment was required to assess the forecasted sales, operating margins, and other income. Changes to these assumptions could have a substantial impact on the realization of such deferred tax assets.

The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls over the deferred tax asset valuation allowance process, including controls over the assessment of the realizability of the deferred tax asset and development of the above noted assumptions for projected future income. We evaluated the Company’s projected future income by comparing the above noted assumptions to its historical performance and relevant market data. To assess the Company’s ability to estimate future income, we compared the historical forecasts for the intangible assets to actual results. We also performed sensitivity analyses over certain assumptions to assess their impact on the Company’s realizability assessment. We involved income tax professionals with specialized skills and knowledge who assisted in assessing the Company’s application of the relevant tax regulations. They also assisted in evaluating the tax planning strategies and the related impact of those strategies on the projected future income of the entity used in the realizability assessment.

/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1990.

Atlanta, Georgia

February 24, 2021

39

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors

Mohawk Industries, Inc.:

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited Mohawk Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries’ (the Company) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively, the consolidated financial statements), and our report dated February 24, 2021 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ KPMG LLP

Atlanta, Georgia

February 24, 2021

40

MOHAWK INDUSTRIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Consolidated Balance Sheets

December 31, 2020 and 2019

	2020		2019
	(In thousands, except per share data)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	768,625	134,785
Short-term investments	571,741		42,500
Receivables, net	1,709,493		1,526,619
Inventories	1,913,020		2,282,328
Prepaid expenses	369,432		415,546
Other current assets	31,343		27,679
Total current assets	5,363,654		4,429,457
Property, plant and equipment, net	4,591,229		4,698,917
Right of use operating lease assets	323,138		323,003
Goodwill	2,650,831		2,570,027
Tradenames	727,268		702,732
Other intangible assets subject to amortization, net	224,339		226,147
Deferred income taxes and other non-current assets	447,292		436,397
	$	14,327,751	13,386,680
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt	$	377,255	1,051,498
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	1,895,951		1,559,140
Current operating lease liabilities	98,042		101,945
Total current liabilities	2,371,248		2,712,583
Deferred income taxes	493,668		473,886
Long-term debt, less current portion	2,356,887		1,518,388
Non-current operating lease liabilities	234,726		228,155
Other long-term liabilities	330,064		327,220
Total liabilities	5,786,593		5,260,232
Commitments and contingencies (Note 16)
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred stock, $.01 par value; 60 shares authorized; no shares issued	—		—
Common stock, $.01 par value; 150,000 shares authorized; 77,624 and 78,980 shares issued in 2020 and 2019, respectively	776		790
Additional paid-in capital	1,885,142		1,868,250
Retained earnings	7,559,191		7,232,337
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(695,145)		(765,824)
	8,749,964		8,335,553
Less: treasury stock at cost; 7,346 and 7,348 shares in 2020 and 2019, respectively	215,648		215,712
Total Mohawk Industries, Inc. stockholders’ equity	8,534,316		8,119,841
Nonredeemable noncontrolling interests	6,842		6,607
Total stockholders’ equity	8,541,158		8,126,448
	$	14,327,751	13,386,680

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

41

MOHAWK INDUSTRIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Consolidated Statements of Operations

Years Ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and December 31, 2018

	2020		2019	2018
	(In thousands, except per share data)
Net sales	$	9,552,197	9,970,672	9,983,634
Cost of sales	7,121,507		7,294,629	7,145,564
Gross profit	2,430,690		2,676,043	2,838,070
Selling, general and administrative expenses	1,794,688		1,848,819	1,742,744
Operating income	636,002		827,224	1,095,326
Interest expense	52,379		41,272	38,827
Other expense (income) net	(751)		36,407	7,298
Earnings before income taxes	584,374		749,545	1,049,201
Income tax expense	68,647		4,974	184,346
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests	515,727		744,571	864,855
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	132		360	3,151
Net earnings attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	515,595	744,211	861,704
Basic earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Basic earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	7.24	10.34	11.53
Weighted-average common shares outstanding—basic	71,214		71,986	74,413
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Diluted earnings per share attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	7.22	10.30	11.47
Weighted-average common shares outstanding—diluted	71,401		72,264	74,773

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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MOHAWK INDUSTRIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Years Ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and December 31, 2018

	2020		2019	2018
	(in thousands)
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests	$	515,727	744,571	864,855
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Foreign currency translation adjustments	72,956		28,996	(237,339)
Pension prior service cost and actuarial loss (gain), net of tax	(2,174)		(3,210)	1,094
Other comprehensive income (loss)	70,782		25,786	(236,245)
Comprehensive income	586,509		770,357	628,610
Comprehensive income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	235		360	(13)
Comprehensive income attributable to Mohawk Industries, Inc.	$	586,274	769,997	628,623

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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MOHAWK INDUSTRIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

Years Ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and December 31, 2018

		Total Stockholders’ Equity
	Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest	Common Stock		Additional Paid-in Capital	Retained Earnings	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)	Treasury Stock		Nonredeemable Noncontrolling Interests	Total Stockholders’ Equity
		Shares	Amount				Shares	Amount
	(In thousands)
Balances at December 31, 2017